According to the Daily Star, an extract from The Strand Magazine, Vol. XI, which was released in 1896, said it best:
“Thus, if noses were ever uniformly exact in representing the importance of the individual, this worthy ought to have amassed all the money in Threadneedle Street and conquered all Europe, for this prodigious nose of his was a compound of the acquisitive with the martial.
“But either his chin was too weak or his brow too low, or Nature had so exhausted herself in the task of giving this prodigy a nose as to altogether forget to endow him with brains; or perhaps, the nose crowded out this latter commodity.
“At all events, we are told this Yorkshireman expired, nose and all, as he had lived, in a condition of mind best described as the most abject idiocy.”
However, the 18th-century performer has forever been immortalised due to a waxwork of his head being produced, which is now located in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in London.
While he may hold the world record over 250 years later, there is little known about the circus worker aside from his performances in sideshows.
It is thought that Wedders passed away in his place of birth in his early 50s, with a cause of death unknown.
The wax figure of Wedders recently went viral after Reddit users expressed their shock over the sheer size of his nose.
One user wrote:
“What is actually happening here? Tumor? Growth? Random genetic mishap? Do the nostrils extend all the way to the tip?? I have so many questions…”
Another joked:
“They say your brain automatically ignores looking at your own nose but yeah I don’t know about that guy.”
Currently, Mehmet Özyürek of Artvin, Turkey, holds the title for the longest nose on a living person.
His nose, which was last measured in March 2010, is 3.55in (8.8 cm) long from the bridge to the tip.
He told Guinness World Records last year: “I have such a special feature.
“It’s a genetic condition as far as I understand. There was no explanation by doctors, but I have it in my family, so my father has it, my uncles have it, I have it.
“I love my nose of course…I have been blessed.”
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